Unraveling the Conundrum
by Spydurwebb
Summary: After the events of Trividian Conundrum, there are still things that Sarah Jane and her family must deal with. This covers SJA material as well.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N - This is set after SJA's "Invasion of the Bane", but before "Revenge of the Slitheen". _

CHAPTER ONE_  
_

A young man with unruly hair, a pinstriped suit and trainers sat across the desk from UNIT's Brigadier Andrews. The young Brigadier gave the man a disapproving stare. 'Doctor, your request is most unusual. I would not even have entertained it, except I got a call from a supposedly very retired Sir Alistair.'

The Doctor grinned in his own manic way. 'Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart! And how is the old boy doing?'

'Doctor, your lack of formality is disturbing, but given how much help you've given to UNIT and the world in the past, I will willing to look over it. You've requested the assistance of one of my soldiers for an indeterminate amount of time. Sir Alistair apparently found out about this, and informed me that we were to honour your request, and he specifically requested a certain person. The fact that he even knows who is in the current personnel lineup is unsettling enough, but I spent some time looking in more detail through the personnel files. The particular person he recommended has a most interesting connection with Sir Alistair's active days, and I believe she even refers to him as "Uncle".'

'Really?' the Doctor asked innocently. Before he could ask another question, there was a swift knock on the door.

'Come in.' Andrews replied.

A petite, young woman walked in the door. Her uniform was crisp as she snapped to attention. 'You asked to see me, Sir?'

'At ease, Sullivan.'

The Doctor turned around and recognized her instantly. 'Susan Sullivan!' he exclaimed. He smiled at her as she sent out telepathic feelers towards him and felt her inquisitive responses. 'I'm glad to see you've been working on your telepathy, Susan.'

She smiled as she recognized the responses coming from the Doctor. 'I learned from the best, Doctor.'

The Brigadier looked from the Doctor to Susan. 'Sullivan, am I correct in assuming that you know this person?'

Susan turned to the Brigadier without hesitation. 'Yes, Sir. This is the Doctor, Sir.'

'The Doctor has requested access to certain files and equipment, as well as the assistance of one of our personnel. You were "suggested" to me by Sir Alistair. He apparently heard about what was going on and made several phone calls to track you down. You have an interesting history with UNIT, Sullivan.'

Susan smiled. 'My father served with UNIT in the late 70's. Sir Alistair is very close to my family, Sir.'

'No matter now, Sullivan. Assist the Doctor in whatever he requires, and then report back to me when you've wrapped up.'

The Doctor looked from Susan to Andrews. 'It may take some time.'

'As much as it pains me to say it, Doctor, given that Captain Sullivan is one of my best officers, take all the time you need. Her other duties have already been reassigned. I was told that it was possible that this project of yours could take a very long time, months or years even.'

Susan looked surprised, but relaxed slightly when the Doctor quickly winked at her. 'Come on, Susan. There's no time to waste!' He quickly linked his arm in hers and escorted her out the door.

'I'll be in touch, Sir.' she called back as the door closed behind them.

As they almost ran down the corridor, Susan glanced at the tall, slender young man standing beside her and frowned slightly at his rumpled pinstriped suit. In appearance, they looked to be close the same age, although she recognized the same ancient eyes of the Doctor she met on Trivid all those years ago. 'Doctor, what are you doing?'

'I have reason to believe the Bane are going to try to invade. I haven't heard from them in hundreds of years, and why they would try to invade Earth after all this time is beyond me.'

'The Bane? Doctor, that's been sorted out already.'

The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks. 'What? By whom?' His surprise was obvious.

Susan smiled. 'Sarah, of course. I even got a little brother out of the deal.'

The Doctor resumed walking, but slower this time. 'Brother? How'd that come about?'

'The Bane was using brain scans of all the children that entered into their Bubbleshock pop factory. Luke was a product of all those scans. The Archetype, they called him. When the Bane mother was destroyed, Luke didn't have any place to go, so Mum adopted him.'

'So why at Deffry Vale did she tell me she didn't have any children?'

Susan stopped walking. The Doctor didn't, at least until he noticed that Susan wasn't beside him. He finally turned back to her and raised an eyebrow, waiting for her explanation.

Susan took a deep breath. 'Ah, so you're the one she saw there. We weren't sure which version of you that was, when we compared notes afterwards. Deffry Vale was before Luke came into the picture. As for me, officially, even now, Sarah is not listed as my mother. We thought it best not to be changing things around after we returned from Trivid. Despite her protests to the contrary, Sarah was not in the best shape mentally, and it took quite some time for her to come to terms with everything that happened. Also, I was legally an adult by the time we got back, and honestly, none of us wanted to do anything to tarnish Elizabeth's memory. She was my mother in every sense of the word for the first three years of my life, and very accepting of the entire weirdness that was Mum and Dad's relationship. No one wanted that erased. As for not mentioning it to you at the school, Sarah told me that she wasn't sure if the whole Trivid thing had happened for you yet. You didn't mention anything about it, so she didn't want to take any chances of messing about with the timelines.' Susan regarded the Doctor for a minute, then continued. 'I guess since the Bane have already been dealt with, you won't be needing UNIT's services?'

The Doctor smiled. 'I didn't really need UNIT's services, although I am glad the Bane thing is all sorted. I came here specifically for you.'

'Me?'

'Come with me.'

'What?'

'Come with me,' he repeated. 'You asked me once if I could show you the universe. I knew you needed to reconnect with your parents and determine where you fit into the scheme of things, so the timing was not appropriate. It's been almost fifteen years for you now, Susan. May I show you the universe?' He held out his hand to her, wiggling his fingers and smiling.

'Fourteen years for me, but how long has it been for you? Since Trivid, I mean?'

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he blew out a big puff of air. 'Oh well, something like two or three hundred years, give or take a decade.'

Susan raised an eyebrow. 'Seriously? So you meant it when you said you'd come back for me?'

'I made you a promise, Susan, and I try my best not to break my promises. Why do you think I made sure that your duties were reassigned?'

Susan smiled. 'Just one condition, Doctor.'

'That depends.'

'Call me Sue. That's what my family calls me, and Susan seems so formal.'

'Done.' The Doctor grinned broadly as he took Susan's hand in his and led her down the corridor to where he had the TARDIS parked. Opening the door, he gestured for her to enter ahead of him.

Susan walked into the console room and took a long look around. 'You've redecorated. Very nice, I like it!'

The Doctor smiled and went to work setting the coordinates. After a couple minutes, he turned to her. 'Hand me your mobile.'

She handed him her phone and watched as he took out his sonic screwdriver and made an adjustment to it. 'What did you do?'

'I just made sure you could connect with Sarah and your brother from anywhere in the universe.'

Susan grinned, 'Thanks, Doctor.' She looked down at the phone. 'Let's try it out, shall we?' She began to dial a number, then stopped and stared at the Doctor as she he shot a thought her way. 'You think what? That's not possible is it? I am,' she paused, punctuating each carefully chosen word, '100, percent, human.'

The Doctor smiled, knowing he had run all the tests already, but she didn't need to know that. 'Course you are. 32 degree Celsius body temperature, average of 50 heartbeats per minute, oh that's completely normal.'

'When we got back from Trivid, my heart rate dropped with the difference in atmospheric pressure. I may not be what passes for normal around here, but I am completely human.' She finished dialing the number she intended to dial previously.

~!~!~!~

Luke Smith's mobile rang while he was sitting on the sofa watching television. He glanced at the caller ID before answering. 'Hi Sue.'

'Hey Luke. I'm going away for a while. Would you and Mum mind swinging by my flat now and again to check on things?'

A puzzled expression crossed Luke's face. 'Where are you going?'

'I'm going travelling with an old friend.'

Sarah walked in the room. Luke looked up at her before asking another question. 'What do I tell Sarah Jane?'

Sarah looked down at Luke, 'Tell me what?'

Into the mobile, Luke said, 'Hang on a sec, Sue.' To Sarah, he said, 'Susan is asking that we pop in on her flat to check on things while she's travelling with an old friend.'

Sarah made the leap automatically. 'Tell Susan I want to talk to the Doctor.'

Luke passed the message to Susan, then handed his mobile to Sarah.

'Hello, Sarah Jane,' the Doctor said quickly.

'Promise me you'll look after my daughter, Doctor. Keep her safe.'

'I'll take care of her, Sarah,' he said quietly, 'I promise.'

'Put Sue on the line.' When Susan came back on the phone, she smiled. 'Call me from time to time.'

'Of course, the Doctor rigged my mobile so I could call from anywhere. You can also reach me too, in case something comes up with you or Luke, or if you hear anything from Dad.'

'This is going to be an amazing experience for you. Treasure it, and above all Sue, have a fantastic time. And be careful!'

'Thanks, Mum, I will. I love you.'

'Love you too, Susan.'

After disconnecting the call, Sarah handed Luke's mobile back to him. 'Susan is going off with the Doctor. When we hear from Harry again, I can't wait to see his expression when he finds out about this.'

Luke thought for a moment. 'Can I go with the Doctor at some point?'

Sarah sat down on the sofa beside him and wrapped him in a protective hug. 'Ahm, let's talk about that when your older, eh Luke?'

Luke just smiled.

~!~!~!~

After speaking with both Sarah and Luke, Susan turned back to the Doctor, his earlier thought bothering her. 'Why do you think that?'

'Well,' he shrugged, dragging out the word, then continued, 'Why wouldn't I?'

'It's not possible. I was born almost a year after you left Mum in Aberdeen.'

'Well, Gallifreyan natural births don't happen often, but they usually have a gestation period of about 13 months, so 11 or so months is probably a decent compromise.'

Susan raised an eyebrow, 'You're serious, aren't you?' When the Doctor didn't respond, Susan continued. 'Come on, Doctor. You've never said anything before, so why now?'

'When we were on Trivid, Gallifrey still existed. Now, there are no more Time Lords. Except me. The rest are gone, thanks to the Time War. At least I was able to keep you from that.'

'By not admitting the truth? What about my parents, do they know? I mean Mum would almost have to, but what about Dad?'

'Sarah once told me that she thought we lost the right to the truth by her giving you up for adoption. As far as she was concerned, you were Harry's child, and she never questioned it. Harry did a fantastic job of raising you, especially since he was functioning almost as a single parent. I had no idea that Sarah wouldn't wind up raising you. They both care very much for you.'

'And I do about them. Both of them. They're my parents. Regardless of the biology.'

'Of course, and I wouldn't want to change a thing, but I thought you should know the truth, only because it might answer some questions you have about why you're a bit different.'

Susan jumped on a different train of thought. 'You abandoned my mother, knowing she was carrying your child. Who would do that sort of thing?'

The Doctor frowned, his tone serious. 'Certain things had to play out between Sarah and myself to maintain the timelines. I went back for her, but landed in the wrong time.'

Susan frowned. 'I never would've expected that from you. Wait, she never mentioned you coming back.'

'What year is it?'

'2007.'

'Oh well, that explains it. It hasn't happened for her yet, so you can't say anything. I met Luke, and assumed at first, but Sarah quickly told me he was adopted.'

'Are you sure you're not just making assumptions where I'm concerned?'

He reached up on the console and slid one of the video panels towards her, 'You tell me.'

She leaned over and stared at the panel, then looked up at him. 'Oh my…you're serious.'

The Doctor leaned back against the console and folded his arms, then simply nodded.

'I'm not changing anything. Harry Sullivan is still my Dad. You're only the genetic donor.' Susan sighed. 'Although, you probably need to talk to Mum.'

'We really should.' He threw a few levers, sending the TARDIS into flight. 'Hold tight.'

Susan shot him a look. 'You'd better.'

~!~!~!~

Sarah stood in the attic and turned from Mr. Smith as she heard the familiar wheezing, grinding noise and watched as the TARDIS materialise in the corner. Susan stuck her head out and looked around. She smiled when she saw Sarah. 'Mum, are you alone?'

Sarah nodded, 'Luke is at school, why?'

'Can you come in here for a minute?'

Sarah walked into the TARDIS and gave Susan a hug before looking from Susan to the Doctor and sensing that something was up. 'What's going on?'

'Come look at this,' Susan said, pointing at the video panel.

Sarah walked around and looked at the panel. She looked up from the Doctor to Susan and back again. 'Is this what I think this is?'

The Doctor nodded. 'Yes.'

'What does this prove?' Sarah asked, getting defensive.

'Only what we suspected.'

Sarah turned to the Doctor, eyes flaming. Before she said anything, she turned back to Susan and quickly embraced her in another hug. She pulled back and looked in her eyes, trying to read her emotions, but only seeing questions. 'Sue, I will answer all your questions, but could you first excuse us for a moment?'

Susan nodded. 'Sure, I'll be outside.' Susan headed out of the TARDIS to the attic to allow Sarah and the Doctor to talk.

Once Sarah was sure Susan was outside, she whirled on the Doctor. 'I told you to leave this alone.'

'That was all well and good when Gallifrey was still here, but now I'm the last of the Time Lords and Susan deserved to know.'

'So you've already told her.'

'Yes.'

Sarah reached up and slapped him across the face. 'This was NOT your choice to make, Doctor.'

He rubbed his cheek with his hand. 'So now you've joined the parental slap brigade, isn't that wonderful,' he mumbled sarcastically.

'You had no right, Doctor, I asked you all those years ago to leave this alone.'

'I had to know, Sarah.'

'Why? This was all about satisfying your own curiosity, not what was best for Susan.'

'She has questions, Sarah, questions that only I can answer.'

Neither of them noticed Susan stick her head back in the door enough to listen to their conversation. Sarah folded her arms across her chest, her posture mirroring the angry tone in her voice. 'Doctor, please. This is about you being lonely, about you being the last of the Time Lords, about losing Rose. So many things, none of them being what's best for MY daughter.' She took a deep breath before continuing. 'Look, you barely know Sue, and now show up in her life fifteen years after she first met you and drop this sort of information on her. And then you plan on whisking her away to heaven only knows where. Is that for you, or for her?'

'Would you believe me if I said both of us?'

Susan walked up the ramp. 'Mum. It's ok.'

'How is this ok, Sue?'

'Mum, it doesn't change anything. Honestly.' Susan wrapped her arm around Sarah's shoulders. 'I have always wondered, but just attributed so many things to our time on Trivid. The latent telepathy, the increased senses of hearing and smell; those things I'd like to, but can't really explain away by living on another planet for two years. You lived there too and you don't have them. Now there are some things about you that aren't quite human either, like the lower body temperature and lower heart rate, so how are those explained?'

At that, they both turned to the Doctor. When he said nothing, Sarah added, 'I've been like that since I came back from travelling with you.' She laughed as a memory flashed back to her. 'Actually, come to think of it, my temperature never did come back up to normal after the whole Antarctica thing.'

'Antarctica? Seriously?' the Doctor asked, the hint of a smile just appearing.

Sarah nodded. 'And if I had to guess, it wasn't long after that I got pregnant with Susan.'

The smile grew and brightened the Doctor's features. 'That trip to Andara, right before Italy.'

'Which makes me really glad I didn't absorb any of that radiation at the nuclear power facility.'

The Doctor only nodded. 'That's true, that's very true. I never thought about it at the time.'

Susan cleared her throat. 'Excuse me, while I can appreciate you two taking a lovely stroll down memory lane, I am still in the room.' They both looked at her. 'I wanted to ask about Dad. He doesn't know anything about this, does he?'

Sarah shook her head, 'No, and given that he's currently missing, there's nothing he has to know. If, or when he comes back, Sue, you and I can sit down and decide whether to tell him or not. For now, I don't see why it would have to leave this room.'

'I agree, after all, he's had so much loss in his life, I don't want him to feel like he's losing me too,' Susan stated.

They both looked at the Doctor, waiting for his answer. 'Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything. In fact, I don't really want to be anything more than just the Doctor to you, Sue. I'm not here to replace Harry in your life.'

'Don't worry, you never could.'

~!~!~!~


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N - This is set at the end of "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith"  
_

CHAPTER TWO_  
_

Luke, Rani and Clyde were each investigating the TARDIS after the unfortunate events surrounding Sarah's planned wedding to Peter Dalton. Before entering the TARDIS, Sarah and the Doctor held back for a moment, Sarah reached out and touched the Doctor's sleeve. 'Where's Sue?' she whispered.

Softly, the Doctor replied, 'Once we realised the TARDIS couldn't break through the Trickster's energy, I dropped her off several weeks ago for her to try to get to you another way, but we weren't successful. She got locked in a spatial trap almost as soon as we landed and I couldn't get back to her either. Breaking the spell should've freed her as well.'

'So she's safe.'

'Oh yes, safe and brilliant.' He smiled, 'Just like you, my Sarah Jane.'

~!~!~!~

Sarah, Luke, Rani and Clyde watched at the TARDIS dematerialized.

'You were right, Sarah Jane, he is amazing,' Clyde commented, awe evident on his face.

Sarah smiled as she wrapped her arms around Luke and Rani's shoulders, 'And so are we.' Just then, the attic door flew open and Susan practically fell through it, falling to the floor, unconscious. Sarah rushed over to her, kneeling beside her and pulling Susan's head into her lap. Sarah tapped the side of Susan's face lightly. 'Sue, wake up. Susan?'

'Who's that?' Rani asked.

Susan stirred and mumbled, 'Mum, Spatial lock, Trickster, TARDIS blocked.'

'Sue, it's all sorted, you're all right. Everything's all right,' Sarah said as she smoothed Susan's hair. 'The Trickster's gone.'

Clyde looked over at Luke, then back to Sarah. 'Sarah Jane, did she just call you "Mum"? You have a daughter?'

Before Sarah could say anything else. Susan sat bolt upright, 'Woah, that was weird.' She shook her head slightly, as if to rid her brain of any leftover cobwebs. 'Must've been a residual effect from the spatial lock. Better than the time trap he locked you in though.' She looked over at Sarah. 'Mum, are you ok?'

Sarah nodded silently, emotionally overwhelmed.

'Sue, what happened?' Luke asked as he walked up the stairs towards her.

'The Doctor and I found out what the Trickster was trying to do. We couldn't get here directly, and thought that it might be better to try multiple ways of getting to you. As soon as the Doctor dropped me off, the Trickster caught me in a spatial lock. The Doctor was going to try to get to you using the TARDIS.' She looked at Sarah's expression, then looked around the room at the others. 'I'm guessing from the looks on your faces that he was successful.'

'He just left,' Rani offered. 'Now, who are you again?'

Sarah and Susan helped each other to stand up, and quickly embraced. As soon as Sarah released her, Luke wrapped her in another hug. 'Lukey – Boy, you've gotten tall!' Susan laughed as she ruffled Luke's hair. 'And K9! How are you K9, out of that black hole I see?

'Greetings, Mistress Susan.'

Sarah quickly made the introductions, 'Clyde, Rani, this is my daughter Susan.'

'Sue, please.' Susan added.

'Sue, this is Clyde and Rani. They help out Luke and I, with what we do.'

'Hello.' Susan nodded and smiled, turning back to Sarah. 'Very nice, Mum. Once you were the learner, now you are the master. Your very own young padawan defenders of Earth.'

Clyde grinned as he extended a hand to shake with Susan, 'I like you already, Sue.' He turned to Luke, 'See Luke, she is cool.'

'How long have I been gone?'

'Almost three years.' Luke offered.

'Any word on Dad?'

Sarah shook her head. 'No, nothing.'

'Who is your Dad?' Rani asked.

Susan looked at Sarah and caught her slight nod before walking over towards Sarah's desktop computer and pointed at a picture sitting in the eaves of the attic. 'Harry Sullivan. Commodore in the Royal Navy, medical doctor, and has worked with all sort of organisations: UNIT, MI5, Nato, you name it.'

Sarah walked over and put an arm around her daughter. 'He's one of my oldest and dearest friends. He and I travelled together with the Doctor.'

Susan frowned, 'He's been missing for the better part of eight years now.'

Sarah changed the topic. 'Sue, are you going to try to catch up with the Doctor?'

Frowning again, Susan shook her head. 'No, I knew when he dropped me off that it was the end of my travelling with him. It's been five years for me. I saw some amazing things out there in space, but I was ready to come home and continue with my life here, facing the future together with my family.'

Sarah recognised the look in Susan's eyes, and knew there was more to the story that would have to wait until later. She walked over and gave her daughter another hug. 'I'm very glad you're home, Sue.'

~!~!~!~

Later that evening, Susan and Sarah sat in the living room, Sarah on the sofa and Susan on the chair next to it. Sarah had her laptop open, but only stared at the screen, occasionally looking up and over her glasses at Susan. Susan just stared into the bottom of her mug of tea, interspersing sips of tea with closing her eyes, deep in thought. Finally Susan looked over at Sarah, 'Mum, are you ok?'

'Peter's funeral is tomorrow,' Sarah's voice was barely above a whisper.

'Are you going?'

Sarah shook her head. 'No, I don't think so.' She took a deep breath and took off her reading glasses. 'It's been a very long few days, today being one of the longest,' Sarah admitted. 'I'm rather glad Luke is staying at Clyde's tonight.'

'Are you ok with my being here? I could go ahead and head home. My flat is still there, isn't it?'

'Yes, it is.' Sarah reached out and put a hand on Susan's arm. 'But Sue, stay, please, I'm sorry I've not been the best companion this evening.'

'It's all right, Mum, like you say, it's been a long day. I just wanted to give you your space if that's what you needed.'

'Not only are you to stay put, you're staying the night.' Before Susan could argue, Sarah continued. 'I haven't seen you in a long time, besides, I've already made up the guest room for you. Plus, I don't really want to be rattling around in the house alone. I love Luke, I do, but sometimes he asks too many questions. Imagine that, me, getting tired of questions.'

'It's probably just the nature of the questions at the moment. I'm sure he's just worried about you, and he's still trying to absorb everything about how things work, human emotions and all that. Making up for fourteen years of lost culture that most of us get without trying.'

Sarah laughed, 'Something like that, but I wouldn't change him for the world. He's absolutely brilliant. So are Rani and Clyde for that matter.'

Susan regarded Sarah for a moment. 'I must say, Mum, you're much more relaxed than you used to be, current circumstances being the exception, but to bring others into your world, it's definitely different. You went through a period of time after Trivid, and after the whole _Orbus Postremo thing where you didn't trust anyone. I didn't see you for long periods of time, and when I did, you never wanted to talk about anything. Then after you were rescued from the Dauntless, you kept everyone at arm's length.'_

_Sarah raised an eyebrow. 'Frosty?'_

_Susan shrugged but smiled, 'Might be one way to describe it.' They both got lost in reminiscing, before Susan spoke up again. _'The Doctor said something very odd to me, and he told me to ask you about it.'

Sarah looked over at her, intrigued, and a bit concerned. 'What might that be?'

'He said that he was going to try to reach you to warn you about the Trickster, but that afterwards he had to do something very dangerous that involved crossing his timeline. That's why we had to part company. He said that you'd know what that meant.'

Sarah closed her laptop as she realised. 'Remember a few years ago that explosion at the Brig's birthday party?'

'We came back here, and Mr. Smith was able to get rid of my headaches.'

'Mr. Smith had help.'

Susan's eyes widened. 'From the Doctor? From THAT Doctor?'

'He showed up, had Mr. Smith access a file in the TARDIS, said it would allow you to keep your heightened senses, but eliminate the headaches, told me to take care of you and left. He was here and gone within ten minutes.'

Susan sipped her tea. 'I guess I'm not surprised.' A smile crossed her face. 'He is…well, there aren't really words to describe it.'

Sarah smiled, 'Yes, I know what you mean.' She reached over and took her mug of tea off the nearby table and took a sip. 'He had to have created the file in the TARDIS while you were travelling with him and knew that you were healthy, because he'd come back and done it already.'

Susan laughed. 'All that circular thinking could give me a headache, but I'm starting to get very good at abusing pronouns, almost as good as you are.'

'It's all timey-wimey, Sue. That's what makes the Doctor the Doctor.'

'And we wouldn't want him to be any different would we?'

Sarah smiled and shook her head. 'Never.' Just then, the doorbell rang. Sarah stood up. 'I'll get it.' She walked over to the door and opened it. Her jaw dropped as she saw who was standing there. 'It's you!' she exclaimed, a mix of surprise and wonder on her face.

~!~!~!~


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N OK, this just begged to be written..._

CHAPTER THREE

In a remote jungle office in Peru, Sir Alistair frowned at the flickering electricity. 'Hopefully this is the last time they send me down here,' he complained to the other officer in a UNIT uniform. Sir Alistair paced the floor, while the other officer simply sat at his desk.

'I apologize for the rougher conditions, Sir Alistair. The recent storms have left our electricity spotty at best.' Major Williams frowned.

'It's all right, Williams, I just didn't expect to be back down here this quickly. The scope of the mission changed faster than we anticipated, and we need to get our operative out of here before the situation degrades any further.'

'I understand, Sir. He should be here shortly.'

Sir Alistair continued to pace, knowing the young officer in charge here was trying his best, under extreme circumstances. The door opened and another man entered, looking rather haggard. Sir Alistair looked at the man, and despite his almost completely grey hair, full beard and rather worn appearance, there was no doubting who the person was. Sir Alistair reached out a hand warmly. 'Commodore, good to see you again.'

Harry shook Sir Alistair's hand and smiled. 'It's good to see you too, Sir. Although, I must admit that I didn't expect to see you back so soon.'

'Will you excuse us, Major?' Sir Alistair asked. The Major nodded and quickly left the room. 'Harry, the Antarians have given us the complete breakdown to the formula you were working on.'

'Have we verified that the information they gave us is accurate?'

'We've had our best scientists tearing it apart and reconstructing it, and it's accurate.'

Harry took a deep breath. 'Does this mean what I think it means?'

Sir Alistair smiled. 'Time to go home. We've made all the arrangements, so that your identity can be restored. However, you know you'll have to find a new place to live, but we'll make any arrangements you need in the interim.'

Both Harry and Sir Alistair looked at each other as neither one missed the wheezing, groaning noise that filled the room. They both watched as a young man with wildly spiked hair in a pinstriped suit and trainers quickly exited the TARDIS. 'Ah, Harry, Alistair, good caught you both in the same place. C'mon, let's go, no time to waste.'

'Doctor, is that you?'

'Who else would it be?' He gestured towards the TARDIS, 'Allons-y!'

'Doctor, while I'm sure Commodore Sullivan and I both appreciate your offer of a lift, we do have transportation already arranged.'

'Yes, but we're in a bit of a hurry. There's a situation back in London that you need to be there for.'

Sir Alistair frowned. 'Did something happen at the event that I called Susan about?'

The Doctor frowned. 'Oh yes. It wound up being much more of problem than even I expected. I'll explain more on the way.'

~!~!~!~

Sarah walked over to the door and opened it. Her jaw dropped as she saw who was standing there. 'It's you!' she exclaimed, a mix of surprise and wonder on her face. 'You're alive!'

As Harry stepped in the door, he quickly wrapped Sarah in a warm embrace. He'd cleaned up while in the TARDIS, so the beard was gone, but his hair was still longer than Sarah had seen it before. After a minute, Sarah pulled back and looked at Harry. She reached up and put her hands on both sides of his face. 'I can't believe it,' she whispered.

Sarah turned around to call for Susan, but didn't see her in the living room. Turning back towards Harry, she finally realised there was someone else standing on her doorstep.

~!~!~!~

Susan snuck out the back door and worked her way around front as soon as the doorbell rang. She thought she heard a familiar noise just before the doorbell rang. Sure enough, she saw the Doctor leaning against the TARDIS, smiling as he watched the reunion in Sarah's doorway. When he saw Susan, his smile widened even further. She ran straight into his open arms and he swung her around. 'I thought I'd never see you again,' she said, smiling when he put her back down on the ground and released her.

He looked at her, almost looking through her. 'Aw, Sue, you know me better than that.' He motioned towards the house with his head. 'How's Sarah?'

'She'll have a rough few days, I expect.'

The Doctor nodded. 'I knew she needed her family close by.'

'Doctor, you're as much family to her as anyone. Please, come back in with me.'

Crossing his arms, he looked back to Susan. 'You know that I'm not overly fond of domestic, Sue.'

'This is me you're talking to. Both my parents travelled with you, I've travelled with you and the only other person here is Uncle Alistair, one of your oldest friends. If that's not as close to family as you have, I don't know what is.' Susan gauged his reaction before continuing. 'I think you need this as much as Sarah does right now, given what you know is coming.'

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. 'You're probably right,' he said quietly. 'Come on, you need to say hello to your father.'

~!~!~!~

Sarah ushered in both Harry and Sir Alistair. 'Both of you have a seat, I'll go put the kettle on.' As she started in towards the kitchen, instead of sitting, Harry followed her into the kitchen. She filled the kettle and plugged it in while talking, 'Susan was right here.' After a moment, she added, 'Your timing on getting here is impeccable.'

'Well, the Doctor brought us. He told us what happened.'

She turned to face him, ignoring the last statement. 'The Doctor brought you here?' Sarah gave a mock laugh. 'Well, that explains where Sue disappeared to.'

'What do you mean?' Harry asked.

'Which Doctor are you with?'

'Young, tall, lanky.'

Sarah smiled. 'That would be the one.' At Harry's confused look, she continued. 'He whisked off our daughter for the better part of the last three years.'

She could almost see Harry's blood pressure rising, but reached out and took his hand in hers. 'I'm very glad you're all back safe and sound.' She almost hated asking the next question. 'You don't have any plans to go back out anytime soon do you?'

'No, I think I'm home for good now. After this, I think I'm ready to retire.'

At that moment, Susan practically flew into the kitchen. 'Dad!' she exclaimed, throwing herself into her father's open arms.

Sarah poured the tea into a mug and got ready to walk it into the living room for Sir Alistair, also to give Susan and Harry a moment alone.

Susan glanced over at her. 'Oh, Mum, you'll need another cuppa. The Doctor is in there talking to Uncle Alistair.'

Just then they heard a door slam. 'Hey Mum, I'm home…' Luke's shouting was cut off when he realised there were people in the living room.

Sarah looked back towards Susan, who only shrugged, 'Sorry, Mum. I called him a little bit ago, I thought you might like to get all the introductions over with.'

Sarah, Harry and Susan went back into the living room, each carrying two mugs. Sarah gave her second mug to Luke, Susan gave hers to the Doctor and Harry gave his to Sir Alistair. They all sat around the living room, Luke sitting close to Sarah and staring at Harry. 'I guess I should introduce everyone, yes?' Sarah asked. She reached out and put an arm around Luke's shoulders. 'Harry, this is my son, Luke. Luke, this is one of my dearest friends, and Susan's father, Harry.'

'You're Commodore Sullivan?'

Before Harry could answer, the doorbell rang again. Sir Alistair stood up. 'That would be my taxi.' Sarah and Harry both stood up. Harry reached out and shook his hand. 'Thank you, Sir, for everything.'

'Don't mention it, Sullivan.' He leaned in close to Harry. 'Take care of her,' he whispered.

Sarah walked him to the door. 'Thank you, again.' She embraced Sir Alistair warmly.

'Don't mention it, Sarah Jane. Just let me know if there's anything you need.' With that, he walked out and Sarah shut the door behind him.

Back in the living room, the Doctor stood up. 'I think that's my cue as well.' He nodded to Harry. 'Glad to see you back where you belong, Harry.'

'Thank you for bringing me home, Doctor.'

The Doctor wrapped his arms around Susan tightly and buried his head in her neck, but said nothing. Finally, Susan spoke, 'Be careful, please.'

He pulled away from her. 'Course I will, you know me!' he said with a grin.

'Yes, that's why I said something.' She looked up at him, refusing to let any tears fall. 'Thank you for showing me the universe, Doctor.'

'Don't mention it.' Then he added, 'Sue, you were incredible, thank you.' He gave her a lopsided grin, turned and walked towards the door. Sarah met him at the door. 'My Sarah Jane,' he smiled.

'You brought my family to me today. Thank you.'

'Well, I couldn't very well leave you by yourself, could I? What sort of friend would I be then?' More softly, he added, 'You're still my best friend.' He then wrapped her in a tight embrace, almost willing himself to never let go.


End file.
